Fallen Path
by kouri
Summary: [On Hiatus] Prelude to 'Need to Kill' - The story of how Shinta became Kenshin, and how he changed from a young teenager into the legendary assassin, Battousai.
1. Higeki na higeki Tragedy of Tragedies

Chapter 1 

Higeki na higeki – Tragedy of Tragedies 

Disclaimer: I do not own Weiss Kreuz or Rurouni Kenshin. All the characters in this fic belong to Watsuki-sensei! 

Author's Notes: This is my first RuroKen fic, and I'm basically borrowing a bit of an idea from the anime/manga Weiss Kreuz. This is an modern day AU fic where Kenshin is an ordinary teenager who gets his life turned upside-down when his sister gets run over by a suspicious limousine. His sister falls into a coma, and in exchange for her health, he agrees to be trained by Hiko in the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, and essentially, becomes Battousai. 

"Nee-san!" An amethyst-eyed youth called out to his older sister, who was just across the road. 

A girl dressed in an elaborate kimono turned her head; long dark hair let loose swished softly past her ears and shoulders as she did so. She regarded the teenager with a smile. "Shinta." 

"—taku! Nee-san! You should've waited for me!" Himura Shinta was out of breath, his chest heaving, his fiery-red mane tousled all around his head. 

Her smile deepened. "You took so long; besides, Akira was waiting." 

Shinta rolled his eyes at the mention of his sister's boyfriend. "Yeah, well, it's not like he's always an early bird himself." His eyes narrowed slightly as he grinned in a not-so-innocent manner. "Would I be interrupting anything with my presence?" 

Tomoe attempted to swipe his head, turning pink, but Shinta ducked under her arm, grinning. "Why you little imp!" 

Still grinning, he replied impudently, "I guess I am then. I'll just leave you two love-birds alone when he finally shows up." 

Tomoe could just start to feel a vein pop in her head. "Grrrr~~~ if you weren't my little brother I would wring your neck through a dryer!" 

Shinta grinned. "Well, nothing I can do about that can I?" 

The cheerful banter continued, as Shinta continued to annoy Tomoe, and she got more and more irritated. 

She finally exploded. "That's it! I refuse to stand on the same pavement as you!" 

Cold brown eyes watched the exchange between brother and sister from the back of a limousine. As the girl started to cross the road, the words that were uttered from his lips sealed her fate. 

"Run her over." 

The limousine shot out of the shadows like a speeding arrow, racing towards her. 

And yet, Tomoe was not aware of the danger that she was in. 

Annoyed and blushing pink, she continued to cross the road, unawares, muttering to herself under her breath. "That little imp Shinta –!!" She suddenly noticed a sleek black limousine, speeding like a bullet--- 

Right towards her. 

Shinta was still in the midst of laughter when he heard the sound of squealing tires on asphalt, and his eyes suddenly shot open, only to see Tomoe standing frozen, stock-still in the middle of the road while the shiny black car raced towards her. 

"NEE-SAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!" 

She turned her head towards her brother's anguished yell and she saw him reaching out towards her, only starting to run. 

The world seemed to move in slow motion. 

Shinta was running, running, his mind screaming at him to save her. 

Her eyes widened as he ran towards her, the blood that rushed through her ears blocked out all sound…and then… 

The limousine crashed into her body and the impact sent her flying. Tomoe could feel nothing as she saw the car race by, even though she knew her body was falling back to the ground against the hard cold pavement, and the trickle of blood running from the edge of her lips told of internal injury. 

His heart threatened to leap out of his body as he saw the car connect with her frail form. Her scream was like a sword through his heart, and he felt his mind scream. Her body soared like a puppet, only to crash down into the asphalt once again, this time a broken doll. He turned to look at the limousine, which had stopped not 10 feet away from them, and his eyes widened in anger as he watched the man inside turn his head a smile a cold, dead smile. The memory of that smile was etched into his mind forever, as the limousine once again started moving, leaving the scene of tragedy behind. Shinta's eyes flashed amber before returning to hardened violet as rage threatened to consume him. 

A weak groan from his sister pulled Shinta back to reality again, and as he rushed towards her the shock and horror of the sight of her made his blood run cold. As he held her in his arms he noticed that her light blue kimono was dyed in the blood that was being coughed out from her lips as her eyes threatened to fog over. 'Nee-san.' He whispered, his voice like sanded paper. Tomoe's eyelids flickered at him. 

"_Shin…ta…_" 

Her eyelids fluttered shut as her body went limp in his hands. 

_Kami-sama…this can't be happening…Nee-san!Nee-san!! _

"**_NEEEEEE-SAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!"_**

His anguished scream ran out through the town. 

And the haunting smell of white plum mixed with blood permeated the air. 

Author's Notes: In this fic, some of the roles of the characters are changed. As you can see, Tomoe is **not** Kenshin's wife, and Enishi is not her brother. Kenshin is still known as Shinta at this point, but well ^_^ he'll be known as Kenshin soon enough. Oh, FYI, Kenshin's and Tomoe's parents died really early, so Tomoe was the one who brought Kenshin up (sound familiar to Flame of Recca fans? ^^; think Mikagami). How old the people are? Kenshin at this stage is 15, while Tomoe is 18. Don't know if I'll dump Akira into the fic completely or not. Quite a few characters will be OOC in this one, if ya get what I mean. And Nee-san means older sister in Japanese. 

As I said, I'm borrowing Weiss Kreuz for this, and if you've ever read the manga for Weiss Kreuz, you'll find out how Aya (Ran) joins the group. Kenshin is basically playing Aya's (Ran's) role, while Tomoe is playing as the –real- Aya ie. Kenshin's sister. This story is kinda a prologue to another story that I'll be writing soon. So all ya have to do is wait for it! Reviews and critics are very much welcome! XD Or should I say, the more the better! 

Vocabulary for the day 

Nee-san – older sister 

Taku (full word mattaku) – geez! Really! 

Kami-sama – God 


	2. Ima wa dou suru? Now what?

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, Weiss Kreuz or any of the characters that are involved in this fic. All that I own is my luverly laptop and my RK manga! ^^ Owning Battousai would be niiiice though. 

A/N: Still moving slowly slowly on~ Don't worry ^^, there'll be quite a bit of action soon enough, just bear with me for the moment ne? And if anyone can think of a better title for this story, please let me know, because I **know** this title sux :p Well, read on! 

Chapter 2 

– Ima wa dou suru? – What now? 

He sat by her bedside, her limp, white hand in his, as his dark violet eyes stared blankly at the other wall of the tiny room, the only sounds that broke the silence were the occasional beeps of the numerous machines that were hooked up to her to keep her living, breathing. 

The doctors had told him that although her condition was stable, she was now in a comatose state, and they didn't know when exactly she would wake up. The operation had taken more than eight hours, and Shinta had paced up and down the hospital corridors non-stop the whole time, while the hospital staff had watched him with sad eyes. When the doctors had come out of the ER with grim looks on their faces, Shinta felt overwhelming despair. The news had been better than he had hoped, but it still cast an overbearing shadow as to what would happen from hereon. It was indeed a miracle that she had actually survived such an incident. He had been very thankful that Tomoe was alive, but the fact that she would be comatose for an undefinable period of time put a damper on his rising spirits, bringing him back down to the cruel reality again. How on earth would he be able to pay for the medical fees? He was only 15, and even then, Tomoe had been the one who had taken care of everything after their parents had died. He felt completely lost, and tears threatened to spill from his amethyst eyes. _Nee-san…please wake up…don't leave me here all alone…please wake up…_ As exhaustion finally overtook him, he thought that he felt someone wrap a blanket around him, but he barely saw the face as his eyelids fluttered shut. 

"Ariga---…" The rest of Shinta's words trailed off as sleep caught up with him. 

Hiko Seijurou watched the boy in front of him. The sleeping siblings looked deceivingly at peace, although he knew better. Two other men chose to walk into the room at that moment. 

"That's the boy, isn't it?" murmured the first man softly. His long black hair was tied back in a ponytail, and although his voice was at this point soft, the glint in his eyes proved otherwise. Katsura Kogorou was known both for his kindness and his uncorrupted sense of justice. 

"Aa." Hiko affirmed. "I can sense it in him. He will be the one to bring about the new era." 

"You do know that by doing so, we may ruin his life." Takasugi spoke up, moving into the light of the room from the doorway. 

Katsura turned to face him. "There is no other way, and there is no better chance than this. Without him, the plan will never succeed." 

"You want me to train him in the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu then." A blatant statement from Hiko, rather than a question. 

Silence, then Katsura nodded his head once in reply. 

"This way we'll be able to give him a proposition; the care of his sister's health in exchange for his training. Don't tell him about the job we have intended for him yet. It is still too soon. In a year, maybe." 

"The Ishinshishi must succeed, no matter what the cost." 

Katsura turned and left the room silently, and Takasugi soon followed, leaving Hiko alone in the room with the siblings. 

"'No matter what the cost', huh?" Hiko muttered to himself. 

He looked to the sleeping Shinta. 

_All I can do right now is pray that you don't lose your sanity. _

"Forgive me for doing this to your boy, Keiko." 

A/N: Gomen! This is a pretty short chapter, but I'm still working things out at this point. As you can see, other characters like Hiko and Katsura are slowly but surely making their way into the fic XD However, I think that I'll be doing a two or three part story to this. This is part 1, Kenshin's past. Kaoru, Sano and most of the other main characters will only be introduced into part 2. And part 3? ^^ Well, we've just gotta wait and see won't we? Sorry to all those Tomoe fans out there, but she doesn't really play much of a major role in my fic. Gomen nasai~. Read and review please! ^^


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